Silence
by Crime Scene Investigator
Summary: It's a slow night at the office, the crew is starting to notice a change in Grissom and so is he... (Chapter 4 is up hope you like it)
1. Default Chapter

Title: Silence  
  
By: Crime Scene Investigator  
  
Feedback: PLEASE csi51702@yahoo.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't' own them. someone with a lot more talent, money and power does. But hey I can dream right?  
  
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Silence. Something everyone wants but no one wants to keep. He could never understand why people were always saying, "I'd give anything just to have some silence." No one really wanted silence they just want a few quiet minutes. He'd never complain about the labs being loud again, that he knew for sure.  
  
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"So what's up with Grissom lately?" Nick Stokes asked his friend as they walked down the hall towards the print lab. "I mean he's acting strange, even for him."  
  
"How should I know? Grissom is Grissom, you know how he gets sometimes.. Lost in his own world."  
  
"Come on Sara you and Catherine know him better then anyone else; and you know I'm not gonna get anything out of her."  
  
"Hey I'd tell you if I knew but I really don't Nick. Griss doesn't tell me as much as everyone likes to think he does. I gotta drop this stuff off to Greg first so I'll see you in prints in a few." Sara said as she turned right towards the DNA / TOXICOLOGY Lab. Even through the closed doors she could hear Greg Saunders stereo blasting out the latest in underground rock.  
  
Sara entered the room and walked directly to the machine violating Grissom's "Don't be louder then the dead" rule.  
  
"Hey! Come on Sara do I go in your office and mess with your stuff?" Hollered Gregg as he turned to see who had ended his dance party.  
  
"I don't have an office Gregg and if I did, yes you would mess with my stuff. Besides I probably just saved your butt you know Grissom's rule."  
  
"Yeah I know but I actually think he's starting to like my music because he hasn't been yelling at me about it too much lately. But anyway. what have you got for me? Something new and challenging I hope." With a sheepish grin splayed across his face Gregg held his hands out to accept the large envelope and evidence bags Sara was holding.  
  
"Sorry Gregg just some routine blood samples this time. We need DNA and TOX run on them."  
  
"That's it? Come on that's not even slightly challenging."  
  
"Hey it was a slow night hit and run victims dead and runner left us a sample. We just want to know whose blood is who's and who was drinking the empty bottle of bourbon we found. Just think you can use all this extra time to catch up on all the cataloguing you never do during the week..." Smiling Sara turned on her heels and headed back out the door and down the hall towards the prints lab.  
  
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Grissom was already in the prints lad waiting for the rest of his team to arrive. It should be a slow evening for them all with one hit and run on the board and nothing expected to come in, something about Wednesday nights in Vegas. no one usually died. So Grissom had decided it would be the perfect night for everyone to go from department to department and check on all their case logs to make sure all the t' were crossed and i's dotted. They were all meticulous in their work, he accepted nothing less, but even the best missed something when their mind was on a case. He had already found forms of his with a few minor mistakes that needed fixing if for no other reason then to show they were professionals capable of putting together grammatically correct paperwork.  
  
Besides even paperwork at this point was an open welcome to get his mind off recent events. Paperwork was an individual thing, he wasn't required to directly interact with any one, though he usually shied away from this to begin with, the urge to hid lately had become almost to strong to ignore. He knew his moments of hearing loss were becoming longer and more frequent as the days went by but he had yet to figure out how to tell the team. He didn't know how they would take it. Or how he would handle them knowing. He wasn't one known for liking to depend on others and he didn't want to start now. His mother had never depended in other when she lost her hearing; she just learned to function with out it. He knew sign and used it well, but how was he going to continue being a CSI if he couldn't hear? Was it even possible? He could still do the job he knew that but would they let him do the job. that was the real question. He wasn't the most popular duck in the pond as it was he didn't need to give them an excuse to get rid of him.  
  
Lost in thought Grissom didn't even realize his hearing had once again cut out on him until he startled at the sight of Catherine Willows standing before him hands on hips, mouth moving but no sound.  
  
"Well come on Gil it doesn't take this much thought! It's gonna be a long night, do you vote for getting pizza or Chinese?"  
  
After a moment of silence waiting for his hearing to return, "I'm sorry Catherine I was thinking what was the question again?"  
  
"Uh-huh; why do I feel like I'm asking Lindsey if she did her homework yet? Pizza or Chinese; you're the deciding vote."  
  
"Pizza, definitely, car accidents usually turn me off of Chinese for some reason."  
  
"Ok, pizza it is then, sorry boys you've been out voted again."  
  
"That's it I'm convinced you're paying him to vote pizza."  
  
Grissom was shocked at the sound of Warrick Brown's voice in the room. He turned to see his whole crew standing behind him; he hadn't heard a single one of them enter the room. This was starting to get serious what was he going to do if he was ever at a crime scene alone? Get killed probably.  
  
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Please send reviews - I it's short but this is my first one and I'd like to know how I'm doing. 


	2. Somethings Different

Title: Silence  
  
By: Crime Scene Investigator  
  
Feedback: PLEASE csi51702@yahoo.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them. someone with a lot more talent, money and power does. But hey, I can dream right?  
  
****Dear Readers: Thank you for the reviews, I am thrilled to know my writing is being somewhat enjoyed. As I said this is my first attempt and I hope I can keep it up. For someone who tries to write I'm terrible at grammar but I will take note of the reviews and probably have someone else read it before being posted in the future.****  
  
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Chapter 2: Something's Different -----------------------------------------  
  
"No complaining guys; you lost fair and square. And make sure you get it from D'Angeleo's, they're the best." Catherine said as she took a seat in the chair directly across from her supervisor.  
  
"Come on Nick lets go before they tell us we can't get one with pineapple on it."  
  
"Sorry Warrick, you're on your own with that one. I'm a carnivore. I like the meat lovers." Nick Stokes told his friend as he grabbed his jacket and the keys to the Tahoe.  
  
"Sara can you do me a favor?" Catherine asked keeping her eyes still half on Grissom. "Run down and grab a folder for me that I left with Gregg this morning? He should be done with it."  
  
"No problem Cath, I'll be right back." Sara headed out the door wondering what was really going on. Gregg would be coming down in a few minutes and could certainly bring the folder with him. Apparently, Grissom wasn't going to be the only one acting a bit strange tonight.  
  
Back in the prints lab Gil Grissom was also curious what his fellow CSI was up to.  
  
"Catherine, Gregg will be coming up in soon you could have just called and asked him to bring it with him. Sara has quite a few cases to go over down here herself."  
  
"I know Gil, but I wanted to talk to you. What's going on with you lately? You're more distant then usual and you've been kind of distracted. Something you want to talk about?"  
  
"I appreciate your concern Catherine but no, I'm fine. I've just been preoccupied with thought lately. You know how it is when it gets slow around here, the mind wanders."  
  
"OK, if you say so. But when you decide you want to talk about whatever it is that's going on you know where to find me."  
  
"Thank you again but really it's nothing. Why don't you get started, I had Jessie sort all the cases before she left this morning, yours are on the counter by the window." Grissom said as he returned his attention back to his own stack of cases.  
  
Catherine stood looking at her boss a few seconds longer then turned and walked across the room and settled down in front of her work for the evening.  
  
Grissom had wondered when someone was going to confront him about his behavior over the past few weeks. His team was highly trained to notice discrepancies and strange behavior in absolute strangers; of course they would notice changes in him. He figured Catherine would be the first to say something; she was always the most direct with him. She never worried about stepping on his toes; they had known each other many years even before Grissom had become the night shift supervisor. They had been through a lot as friends over those years, but they still didn't know everything about each other and Grissom wasn't sure this was something Catherine needed to know quite yet. It seemed she knew him well enough to not give him the option of keeping it private though.  
  
As they sat there working on their reports Sara Sidle walked back in with Catherine's folder in hand. "Griss, Gregg said to tell you he won't be down for a while; he's having some trouble with the blood samples from the hit and run."  
  
"What kind of trouble? DNA and TOX are simple tests to run; I think Gregg needs to focus on his work a bit more then on his music."  
  
"Sorry boss, just don't shoot the messenger ok." Sara said as she settled behind a stack of paperwork with her name on it. 'Between this paperwork and his bad mood this is gonna be one long night," Sara thought as she pulled out her first case.  
  
The three CSI's sat in relative silence for the first half hour; each going over their paper work highlighting and marking corrections to be made. It was the easiest way to go about it; go through each file, mark what was wrong, then go through again and make the corrections; that way they weren't' spending too much time on any one case. Staring at a file for too long causes you to start notice things about the case, and then you start to questions things. This is not what they were here to work on. The investigative portion of these cases was finished. The only changes to be made now were typos and grammar. This method worked best to prevent the accusation of changing files each CSI had the original marked with changes needed, and the new copy with the changes. Any appearance if tampering could be easily squashed by producing the original.  
  
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Meanwhile CSI's Nick Stokes and Warrick Brown were headed towards D'Angelo's Pizzeria about 10 blocks away.  
  
"You see what I'm talking about Warrick? Something's up with Grissom. Did you see him in there? It was like he didn't even understand what Catherine was saying to him!"  
  
"Come on man, you know how Griss is. He was probably solving a logic problem in his head or something." Warrick answered as he pulled the Tahoe into D'Angelo's parking lot.  
  
"I don't' know man something's up with him." Nick said as they exited the vehicle.  
  
"Let it go Nick! If Grissom has something going on, he'll tell us if we need to know. He hasn't' told us so we obviously don't need to know. Let's just get the pizza and get back ok?"  
  
Convinced his friend was going to be of no help in his mission to find out Grissom's secret Nick gave in and dropped the subject. They picked up their food, a few sodas and a bag of pretzels for later in the evening and headed back to the office and their awaiting paperwork.  
  
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"Brain food has arrived!!" Nick announced as he entered the lab and sat the pizza on the first available counter.  
  
"Thank god! If I don't get away from these files for a few minutes my eyes are gonna pop out of my head!" Catherine said as she backed away from the table and headed for the food.  
  
Everyone left what they were working on and grabbed some pizza to distract them from the task at hand.  
  
"Uh. sorry to interrupt," Gregg said as he entered the room, "Sara? You have a minute to come down to the lab?"  
  
"Sure Gregg, what's up?" Sara said following him out the door with pizza in hand.  
  
"Those blood samples you gave me, I ran DNA and TOX, and I have good news and bad news for you."  
  
"Ok, what's the good news?"  
  
"I know who drank the bourbon."  
  
"Ok. So what's the bad news?" Sara asked, taking another bite of her pizza.  
  
"Both of your guys drank it and what's even stranger is that one of them had very high levels of estrogen in his blood." "Actually that's not that strange because one of my 'guys' was a woman, the victim; which at least tells me we're looking for a man as the assailant. Good job Gregg. I don't really see any bad news here." Sara said walking besides Gregg.  
  
"The bad news is that your victim isn't a woman Sara. Both blood samples you gave me came form men."  
  
"Ok well the victim I saw was definitely a woman. Maybe my hit-and-run isn't just a hi-and-run after all." Sara contemplated as she looked over the test results Gregg handed her.  
  
"What makes you say that?" Gregg, ever curious, asked.  
  
"Two people sharing a drink, one looks like a woman but is really a guy, she/he is dead and the other guys missing.? Sounds like someone might have let her boyfriend in on a little secret and he got mad."  
  
"Cool." Was all Gregg could manage.  
  
Shaking her head slightly at her colleagues response, " Thanks Gregg, I'm gonna go see how Doc's doing on the autopsy and then get Grissom and Katherine's take on this." Sara turned and headed down the corridor in the direction of the morgue.  
  
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*** Hi readers! I know there isn't much on Grissom in this chapter but since this is my first fic It want to play around and see where I can go with this. Think I'm going for too much, or headed in the right direction? I really appreciate the reviews they're incredibly encouraging and more helpful then you probably think. I'm working on the grammar but sorry for any flubs that are still there. *** 


	3. Can't Hide It Forever

Title: Silence  
  
By: Crime Scene Investigator  
  
Feedback: PLEASE csi51792@yahoo.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own, someone with a lot more talent, money and power does. But hey, I can dream right?  
  
****Dear Readers, Thanks once again for the comments. I promise there is more Grissom in this one, he's the best I could never leave him out! Please keep the reviews coming they encourage me to keep this going. Enjoy!  
  
**************************************************************************** ******************** "Hey Doc, any word on my hit and run vic yet?" Sara Sidle asked as she entered the morgue and found Doc Robinson standing at one of his worktables.  
  
"Oh hey Sara, sorry I haven't even started yet. Day shift was a bit swamped today so I'm finishing up on their leftovers. I'll get right on it when I'm done though ok?"  
  
"Sure no problem, I have work upstairs to do anyway. I'll stop back later."  
  
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"So Griss, you ever gonna answer that thing? Or are you just gonna let it beep all night?"  
  
"What?!" Grissom asked, shocked, as the sound of Nick Stokes' voice exploded into his eardrums.  
  
"Your pager man, it's gone off like six times. Are you going to answer it or not?" Nick asked staring at his boss.  
  
Had his hearing cut out again or was he just lost in thought reading over his files? He wasn't sure. He hadn't heard the pager go off so it was probably he hearing again. He'd have to remember to change the setting to vibrate from now on.  
  
Grissom reached down and pulled his pager from it's holster on his belt and checked the number. He didn't recognize it but never the less got up to go to his office and return the call. Without a word to his team, or an answer to Nick's question, Grissom left the room.  
  
"Ok group discussion." Catherine said as soon as Grissom was out of range, "Everyone in this room knows I'm not one to chat behind backs about anyone's personal issues, but, I'm making an exception in this case. Has anyone besides me noticed a change in Grissom in the past few weeks?"  
  
"Hell yeah, we'd have to be blind not to notice. Has his attention span like shrunk to zero or what?" Nick asked grateful that someone had finally brought the subject to light.  
  
"It's not his attention Nick, it's like he's not understanding what we're saying half the time. Or like he's not recognizing his own name," Warrick said stepping away from his pile of work to move closer to the group.  
  
"Ok, when did everyone start noticing it?" Catherine asked. The first step to solving any case was assigning a time line. If they could establish when Grissom's behavior had begun to change maybe they could link it to something that would have caused it.  
  
"A few weeks ago," Warrick answered. "Sara and I showed up at a crime scene and I was asking Griss what was up and he just kind of. ignored me. Not like he didn't want to answer me or anything just like. he didn't hear me."  
  
"Yeah that's the first time I noticed it too." Sara said.  
  
"I noticed it about three weeks ago. We were in his office discussing an old file and he just, stopped listening to me." Catherine said, "It just isn't like him to not pay attention when someone's talking to him. And tonight, I don't think he heard that pager going off."  
  
"You think Griss is losing his hearing?" Warrick asked, being the only one brave enough to say it aloud.  
  
"I don't know. But I think it's time we find out." Catherine said. "No one mention it ok, I'll ask him myself."  
  
"Do you really think that's the best way to go about it Cath?" Sara asked. "I mean you know how Grissom is about his personal life. I just don't think he's gonna want to be cornered by any of us looking for an explanation. I think we should just let it be. He'll tell us when the time is right."  
  
"Yeah I guess you're right Sara. But then again I never was big on respecting Gil's wishes about his personal life, or lack there of. I'm going to ask him about it tonight. Let's get back to work."  
  
Sara wasn't sure that Catherine's approach this time was going to be the right one. She knew Grissom was hiding something and she hated that he wouldn't tell any of them what it was. Especially her, she thought they had become close enough over the past few years to confide in each other. Apparently, she was wrong; then again, she had been keeping a secret from Grissom lately too. Maybe it was time for her to tell him hers.  
  
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***Hi Readers! I know it's short but this story is coming to me in spurts so. hopefully the next one will be a bit longer. Thankd again for the reviews, please keep them coming.*** 


	4. I Know You're Secret

Title: Silence  
  
By: Crime Scene Investigator  
  
Feedback: PLEASE csi51792@yahoo.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them, someone with a lot more talent, money and power does. But hey, I can dream can't I?  
  
***Dear Readers, Thank you yet again for the comments. Hope you enjoy this chapter.  
  
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It was no use; Sara couldn't focus on her files any more. Her mind was racing with too many other thoughts. Grissom hadn't returned from answering his page yet and she was starting to wonder if something was wrong. After a few moments of debate with herself, she decided to go track him down. Maybe in the process she'd gather up enough courage to share her secrets with him. She was just afraid he wouldn't be very pleased with her once she did. Oh well that was a chance she'd have to be willing to take. Gil was too important to her to have secrets this big between them.  
  
"Catherine, I'm going stir crazy sitting here like this. I'm gonna take a quick walk around to clear my head for a few ok?"  
  
"Sure no problem, do an extra lap for me while you're at it ok?" Catherine said smiling at her young colleague.  
  
"Okay, back on a few." Sara said as she left the room in search of her supervisor.  
  
She decided the best place to start looking for Grissom would be his office. It was the most logical place he would go to return a page. As she walked down the hall towards his office, she could see light shinning into the hall from the slightly open door. Not wanting to barge in on Grissom, she knocked lightly on the door and waited for an invitation to enter. When she didn't hear one she knocked again as she stuck her head in through the opening.  
  
"Hey Grissom sorry to barge in, do you have a minute?" She asked looking towards his desk. He wasn't there. A quick scan of the room confirmed that he wasn't in the office at all. "OK boss man. now were did you go?" Sara thought aloud.  
  
She decided her next option would be to head to the front desk. There were pay phones in a small lobby behind the desk, if it was a personal call Grissom may have decided to take it there instead of using his office phone and allowing the taxpayers of Las Vegas County pay for it. She turned to leave the office and nearly fell over backwards when she saw Grissom standing in the doorway behind her.  
  
"Christ! Griss you scared me half to death! Sneaking up on a woman like that is one hell of a way to get a broken nose you know." Sara yelled as she jumped back a step instinctively.  
  
"Sorry about that, and thanks for not breaking my nose. Something you need Sara?" Grissom asked stepping past her to his desk.  
  
"Yeah actually, I need to talk to you for a few minutes." She replied settling into a chair in front of his desk.  
  
"You're getting comfortable, this is serious." Gil noted as he settled into his own set.  
  
"Yeah you could say it is. Listen I know how you feel about sharing personal lives at work."  
  
"Personal lives don't belong in this line of work. The job can't become personal and personal lives can't become part of the job." Grissom interrupted.  
  
"I know which is why I don't want you to take this as an employee and supervisor thing. I want you to take this as friend-to-friend. We are friends aren't we?"  
  
"Of course we are Sara. Is there something wrong? You and Hank.?"  
  
"Hank? No, no nothing like that." Sara quickly replied feeling slightly embarrassed. She wasn't sure why she just never imagined Grissom asking her if she was having problems in her personal relationships. "This is actually about you."  
  
"Me?" Grissom asked raising his eyebrows slightly, as he always does when something surprises him.  
  
"Yeah," Sara replied looking him square in the eyes. Then to Grissom's amazement she raised her hands before her and, in near perfect form, signed 'I KNOW YOUR SECRET'  
  
"You're learning sign." Grissom said visibly surprised.  
  
'AND YOU ARE AVOIDING THE SUBJECT' Sara replied, once again using sign.  
  
'YOU ARE RIGHT, I AM. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT?' Grissom signed back.  
  
'I KNEW SOMETHING WAS WRONG FOR A WHILE NOW BUT I DID NOT KNOW WHAT IT WAS UNTIL I WAS LEAVING CLASS AND SAW YOU GOING INTO LIPREADING CLASSES AT THE UNIVERSITY A FEW WEEKS AGO'  
  
'OH-I-SEE, HAVE YOU TOLD ANYONE?'  
  
"No, it's not my place; but I think you should." Sara said dispensing with the sign for a moment. She was getting good at her newfound language but she still felt more comfortable using speech for the time being.  
  
"I know. When did you start learning sign?" He asked.  
  
"You're avoiding the subject again."  
  
"Okay, I'll make a deal with you. You've obviously known about my secret for some time now, but I've just learned about yours. Let's make this fair, I ask you a question, then you get to ask me one until we get the information we're looking for. Both our curiosities are satisfied that way. How does that sound?"  
  
"Sure. Go ahead, ask away." Sara replied settling back into her chair.  
  
"Okay, when did you start learning sign?"  
  
"About two weeks after that case last year when that deaf kid was killed during the hit and run. When did you find out you were losing your hearing?"  
  
"Two months ago I started noticing I was missing bits of conversations and walking down the street I would suddenly stop hearing cars go past. Why did you start taking the classes?"  
  
"I saw you signing. I saw how invaluable your ability to communicate with the people close to the victim was. We've had a case involving that community once, who says it won't happen again. I don't want to insult anyone like we did before. People learn Spanish to improve communication in the work place, why not learn the language of someone living right here in my own back yard?"  
  
"Very good reasons, it's a shame more hearing people don't think of it in the same way."  
  
"Why haven't you told anyone about your hearing yet?" Sara asked getting back to the questions and answers before Grissom had a change to distract her from it.  
  
"I have, I told my mother. To be honest at first I wasn't sure how to tell anyone except her. I knew someone was going to notice and I'd have to tell I just didn't know who it would be."  
  
"We've all noticed, even Gregg. You haven't been yelling at him for his music lately." Sara explained when Grissom furrowed his forehead in confusion.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me sooner that you knew?" Grissom asked.  
  
"Same reason I haven't told anyone else, it's not my place. I had hoped that you would decide to tell me yourself though."  
  
"Sara I didn't know how to tell anyone. I'm just starting to really deal with it myself."  
  
"What's causing it?" Sara asked.  
  
"Otosclerosis, it's a hereditary disease. It produces an abnormal growth of bone of the inner ear. The bone prevents structures within the ear form working properly and causes hearing loss. In my case the hearing loss is becoming quite profound and severe, and it's affecting both ears."  
  
"Oh-my-God, Gris, can anything be done? Surgery, hearing aids?" Sara asked her concern for her boss and friend showing through.  
  
"Surgery and hearing aids are typically an option but not in my case. The disease is severely advanced and involves the internal ear and nerves. Surgery would most likely bring no improvement to my hearing."  
  
"Isn't it worth the chance? What's the worst that can happen? You could be lucky and it work."  
  
"I could, but why get my hopes up? I don't want to be deaf, but it has always been a possibility in my life."  
  
"You said it was genetic, your mother?" Sara asked. She had learned over a year ago about Grissom's ability to sign but he had not shared how he had learned or why and no one was going to venture and ask him.  
  
"Yes, my mother lost her hearing several years ago. I was still very young, so I attended sign classes with her. I never expected to lose my hearing but I wanted to be able to communicate with her. That's how I know sign language."  
  
"We wondered about that. I think that was the first time we realized how little we all know about you."  
  
"I've never been one on divulging personal information, and I consider anything about my mother very personal."  
  
"So what happens now?"  
  
"Well, I guess I tell everyone else. You're all great investigators, everyone will find out eventually and I guess it will be better if I tell them myself first."  
  
"Are you worried about how they'll take it?" Sara asked, not really believing any of her colleagues would be anything but sympathetic and willing to help.  
  
"Not really, I just don't look forward to leaving CSI so soon." Gil responded, sadness present in his voice for the first time during their conversation.  
  
"Leave? Why would you leave?" Sara asked, concerned at the thought of Grissom not being around. He was more then just a boss to her he was a friend, maybe more.  
  
"Think about it Sara. I didn't hear my pager going off in the lab earlier. Catherine was talking to me and I didn't even know she was there. And even when I did I couldn't hear what she was saying."  
  
"Yeah but you're taking Lip-reading classes for that right?"  
  
"You're taking sign classes you know Lip-reading isn't enough and that it's not completely reliable. Some people's lips are very hard to read when they're speaking. Besides what about when I'm at a crime scene? What happen when I can't hear what's going on there?" Grissom was pleased to see the concern on Sara's face and hear it in her voice. He had always thought of her as a friend; even when she was still just a student, and over the past few years, working together his feelings had grow for her.  
  
"You can still gather the evidence. How much of what we do involves hearing?"  
  
"What happens when there is something at the scene that does require my hearing? We don't have partners here Sara, we double up on cases that require it but I can't hinder an investigation by missing things."  
  
"Any investigation taken on by this office would be hindered by your not being involved Gil." Sara said; she appeared to be holding back tears.  
  
"I just don't know if I can take the chance of missing something, I don't even know if they would give me the option if I wanted to."  
  
"You think they'd get ride of you because of this?" Sara asked; shock now showing on her face.  
  
"I think they've wanted to get rid of me for a long time. I'm unpopular with the political side of this job and no matter how good I am at the forensics I'm still a wild card in their eyes. Yes I think they would use this as a reason to finally get rid of me."  
  
"Well they can't. I mean it's not legal is it? Deafness is a recognized handicap and is covered by the Disabilities Act right? They can't fire you on the basis of your hearing."  
  
"Sara, relax, I appreciate your concern but no decisions have been made yet. As of now, the only people aware of the situation are the doctor, my mother and you. I'm not concerned about anything happening in the near future, but I have to think about what I'm going to do."  
  
"I just don't think you should let this stop you from working here." Sara said no longer even trying to hide the sadness that was covered by her concern. Grissom was important to her, even if she couldn't' gather the courage to tell him he had to know he was more then just a boss to her. How could he just leave?  
  
"Sara what is it? I didn't think this would be so upsetting to you." Grissom asked worried over how much pain this seemed to be causing her.  
  
"I just. I think you should know something before you make any decision." Sara said, not believing what she was about to say.  
  
"Okay, tell me what it is." Was all Grissom could say.  
  
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'Where the heck did Sara go for her walk, the Strip?' Catherine thought to herself when she looked at the clock and saw that Sara had been gone for over a half and hour. It's not that she minded her taking such a long break form her work. She was just concerned since Sara had said she would only be gone a few minutes. She hadn't said much when they were discussing Grissom, Catherine had recently noticed a change in the way the two CSI's interacted with each other lately. Not like there was, something going on between them, more like both of them would be considerably happier if something did.  
  
Catherine decided she would take a walk of her own and see where Sara had gone. While she was at it, she figured it would be the perfect time to approach Grissom about his recent behavior. She set the file she was working on back on top of the pile and headed out the door.  
  
"You know if we were in a restaurant right now I would be thinking our dates were trying to cut out on paying the check." Warrick said to Nick as Catherine exited the room without a word to either of them. "What do you think they're up to?"  
  
"Nothing man, Catherine probably just decided it was time to go talk to Gris. So do you really think Gris is going deaf?" Nick asked; glad to have something to focus his attention on other then his case files.  
  
"I don't know man, but look at tonight, he didn't hear Cath talking to him or that page going off. I don't care what anyone says." Warrick answered his friend and turned his attention back to his file.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
As Catherine walked down the hall towards Grissom's open door, she could hear voices carrying into the corridor. Grissom and Sara were talking, and by the sound of their voices, they were both a bit upset over the topic at hand. Not angry upset, more like concerned.  
  
As she reached the door, she could hear Sara telling Grissom that there was something he needed to know. 'Oh no way did I just walk in on this.' Catherine thought as she stood with her hand on the open door.  
  
"Okay, tell me what it is." She heard Grissom tell Sara.  
  
Just then, as she tried to step back from the door way, the door her hand was resting on moved slightly and let out an audible *squeak*. "Damn-it." She cursed herself as she saw both Sara and Grissom looked towards the door and saw here standing there. "Sorry I heard you guys talking and tried to leave before interrupting, like I have obviously already done. Sorry, I'll just."  
  
"No, Catherine, come in please. I have something to tell you." Grissom said standing to move another chair from his worktable to the desk.  
  
"You can tell me later Gil, you're busy." Catherine said weakly feeling horrible for ruining the moment she saw Sara had finally chosen to tell Grissom how she felt about him.  
  
"Uh, no Catherine, come on in, this is important." Sara said, seeing the concern Catherine felt at walking in on them.  
  
"If you're sure, because this can wait." She said as she moved towards the chair.  
  
"No it can't, it's waited long enough, too long actually." Grissom said as he moved back around to his side of the desk.  
  
"Okay," Catherine said as she settled into her chair. "What's up?"  
  
"I know that everyone has been noticing some changes in me lately."  
  
"That's putting it mildly Gil." Catherine said; glad to hear he was finally going to fill her in on the big secret.  
  
"I'm going deaf Catherine."  
  
"Otosclerosis? " Catherine asked, though it came out as more of a statement then a question.  
  
"You knew?" Grissom asked leaning forward in his seat.  
  
"The thought crossed my mind a few times but I never really thought that's what it was until tonight when you stared at me while I was talking to you. It was like the first time I met your mother, she stared at my mouth. trying to read my lips."  
  
"I forgot you met my mother Catherine." Grissom said sitting back fully in his chair.  
  
"It was about eight years ago but yeah, that's when she told me about the Otosclerosis remember? I was curious about her hearing loss and she explained it all to me and your chances of developing it someday."  
  
"I had forgotten all about that."  
  
"So you knew?" Sara asked, turning towards Catherine, a look of utter confusion on her face. "You asked all of us what we thought and you knew all along?"  
  
"No I didn't know, I suspected that was it but I wasn't sure. I wanted to know what everyone else thought before I approached Gil about it." Catherine explained. "I wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one noticing it. I wanted to be sure before I just walked in here and confronted you with it Gris." She continued to explain, giving Sara her 'Mother' look that she often used on Lindsey when she did something she didn't approve of.  
  
"Sara already knew Catherine." Grissom said noticing the look.  
  
"What? You said you didn't."  
  
"I've known for a few weeks Cath, Gris didn't tell me I found out on my own, accidentally. I thought it was better for him to tell us. But since I knew you were going to confront him about it tonight I thought it would be best to give him the chance to do it first."  
  
"I wasn't going to confront him; I was going to ask him." Catherine snapped coming off a bit angrier then she really wanted to. Sara wasn't the person she was mad at, she wasn't even mad at Grissom, she was just hurt that after all the years of knowing each other Grissom didn't feel comfortable enough coming to her with this news on his own.  
  
"Sara could you please excuse Catherine and I for just a few minutes?" Grissom asked, realizing why Catherine was so upset. "Go back down to the lab and tell Nick and Warrick that I want to speak to everyone in the break room in half an hour, that includes Gregg."  
  
"But." Sara began.  
  
"Please Sara; we'll finish our conversation later okay?" Grissom said in his 'I'm being the boss right now' tone of voice.  
  
"Fine." Sara said as she stood from her chair and exited the office to deliver the message to the others.  
  
"Catherine, I'm sorry. I should have told you." Grissom began.  
  
"You're damn right you should have Gil! We've known each other how many years? We've been through how much together? God Gil! You were there through my whole divorce form Eddie! You're like family to Lindsey and I, I know you're not one to share things Gil but this?"  
  
"Catherine, I didn't know how to tell anyone. My mother was the first one I went to and do you know what she asked me? When are you going to tell Catherine? I didn't even remember at the time you had met, I thought she only knew of you because of things I had told her about you and Lindsey. It scared me; I guess I just never thought of my having to go to anyone for anything. When she asked me that I just couldn't begin to think how to tell you I was going deaf, or anyone for that matter."  
  
"I'm sorry Gris; I'm not trying to be the injured one here. It's just a low blow when you find out your best friend didn't know you were close enough to share life altering events." Catherine replied, all the anger gone form her voice.  
  
"No Catherine, I'm sorry, I'm too wrapped up in being a loner to see that haven't been one in a very long time." Gil explained. He felt terrible knowing he had hurt his friend so much. For as good as he was at details, he could be so oblivious to the obvious at times. Catherine considered him her best friend, and he hadn't even realized that she was his also.  
  
For the first time Grissom realized that though this disease was taking away his hearing, it was also, for the first time, opening his eyes to everything else he had in his life. Including Sara, he wasn't sure how he was going to do it but he was certain he had to tell her about his feelings for her.  
  
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***Hi Readers! Ok am I being totally cruel with the suspenseful endings? Good ( Hey I've gotta get you to come back for more somehow don't I. Hope you're still enjoying it! Keep the reviews coming please, and I'm open to suggestions anyone may have or anything you may want to see happen. Enjoy!!*** 


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